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Philippines

Coordinates: 13°N 122°E﻿ / ﻿13°N 122°E﻿ / 13; 122 The Philippines (/ˈfɪləpiːnz/ (listen) FIL-ə-peenz; Filipino: Pilipinas or Filipinas ), officially the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas), is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Philippine Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest, the Philippines shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Vietnam to the west, Palau to the east, and Malaysia and Indonesia to the south.

^ While Manila proper is designated as the nation's capital, the whole of National Capital Region (NCR) is designated as seat of government, hence the name of a region. This is because it has many national government institutions aside from Malacanang Palace and some agencies/institutions that are located within the capital city.[11]

^ Article 3 of Republic Act No. 11106 declared Filipino Sign Language as the national sign language of the Philippines, specifying that it shall be recognized, supported and promoted as the medium of official communication in all transactions involving the deaf, and as the language of instruction of deaf education.[12][13]

^ The 1987 Philippine constitution specifies "Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis."[14]

Etymology

The Philippines was named in honor of King PhilipII of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte and SamarFelipinas after the then-Prince of Asturias. Eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other names such as Islas del Poniente (Islands of the West) and Magellan's name for the islands San Lázaro were also used by the Spanish to refer to the islands.[34][35][36][37][38]

The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history. During the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the period of the Spanish–American War (1898) and the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) until the Commonwealth period (1935–1946), American colonial authorities referred to the country as the Philippine Islands, a translation of the Spanish name.[25] Since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. Philippines has steadily gained currency as the common name since being the name used in Article VI of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, with or without the definite article.[39]

History

Prehistory

Discovery in 2018 of stone tools and fossils of butchered animal remains in Rizal, Kalinga has pushed back evidence of early hominins in the archipelago to as early as 709,000 years.[40] However, the metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago remains the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date.[41] This distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago.[42][43]Negritos were also among the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated.[44]

The most widely accepted theory, based on linguistic and archeological evidence, is the "Out-of-Taiwan" model, which hypothesizes that Austronesians from Taiwan, who were themselves descended from the neolithic civilizations of the Yangtze river such as the Liangzhu culture,[47] began migrating to the Philippines around 4000BC, displacing earlier arrivals.[46][48] During the neolithic period, a "jade culture" is said to have existed as evidenced by tens of thousands of exquisitely crafted jade artifacts found in the Philippines dated to 2000BC.[49][50]

The jade is said to have originated nearby in Taiwan and is also found in many other areas in insular and mainland Southeast Asia. These artifacts are said to be evidence of long range communication between prehistoric Southeast Asian societies.[51] By 1000BC, the inhabitants of the archipelago had developed into four kinds of social groups: hunter-gatherer tribes, warrior societies, highland plutocracies, and port principalities.[52]

The current demarcation between the Prehistory and the Early history of the Philippines is 21 April 900, which is the equivalent on the Proleptic Gregorian calendar for the date indicated on the Laguna Copperplate Inscription—the earliest known surviving written record to come from the Philippines.[53] This date came in the middle of what anthropologists refer to as the Philippines' "Emergent Phase" (1st–14th centuries CE), which was characterized by newly emerging socio-cultural patterns, the initial development of large coastal settlements, greater social stratification and specialization, and the beginnings of local and international trade.[54] By the 1300s, a number of the large coastal settlements had become progressive trading centers, and became the focal point of societal changes, ushering complex lifeways which characterized what F. Landa Jocano called the "Barangic Phase" of early Philippine history, beginning from the 14th century through the arrival of Spanish colonizers and the beginning of the Philippines' colonial period.[54]

The discovery of iron at around the 1st century AD created significant social and economic changes which allowed settlements to grow larger and develop new social patterns, characterized by social stratification and specialization.[54]

Some of these polities, particularly the coastal settlements at or near the mouths of large rivers,[55] eventually developed substantial trade contacts with the early trading powers of Southeast Asia, most importantly the Indianized kingdoms of Malaysia and Java, the various dynasties of China,[55] Thailand,[56] and later, the Muslim Sultanate of Brunei.[57] They also traded with Vietnam,[56] Japan,[58] and other Austronesian islands.[59]

Based on archeological findings, trade with China is believed to have begun in the Tang dynasty, but grew more extensive during the Song dynasty.[57] By the 2nd millennium CE, some (but not all) Philippine polities were known to have sent trade delegations which participated in the Tributary system enforced by the Chinese imperial court.[57] These "tributary states" nominally acknowledged the Sinocentric system which saw China and the imperial court as the cultural center of the world. Among the early Philippine polities, this arrangement fulfilled the requirements for trade with China, but did not actually translate into political or military control.[57][55]

The Ifugao/Igorot people utilized terrace farming in the steep mountainous regions of northern Philippines over 2000 years ago.

Regarding the relations of early Philippine polities with the various state-level polities of Indonesia and Malaysia, legendary accounts often mention the interaction of early Philippine polities with the Srivijaya empire, but there is not much archeological evidence to definitively support such a relationship.[54] Considerable evidence exists, on the other hand, for extensive trade with the Majapahit empire.[60]

The exact scope and mechanisms of Indian cultural influences on early Philippine polities are still the subject of some debate among Southeast Asian historiographers,[54][61] but the current scholarly consensus is that there was probably little or no direct trade between India and the Philippines,[54][61] and Indian cultural traits, such as linguistic terms and religious practices,[60] filtered in during the 10th through the early 14th centuries, through early Philippine polities' relations with the Hindu Majapahit empire.[54] The Philippine archipelago is thus one of the countries, (others include Afghanistan and Southern Vietnam) just at the outer edge of what is considered the "Greater Indian cultural zone".[61]

The early polities of the Philippine archipelago were typically characterized by a three-tier social structure.[54][55] Although different cultures had different terms to describe them, this three-tier structure invariably consisted of an apex nobility class, a class of "freemen", and a class of dependent debtor-bondsmen called "alipin" or "oripun."[54][55] Among the members of the nobility class were leaders who held the political office of "Datu," which was responsible for leading autonomous social groups called "barangay" or "dulohan".[54] Whenever these barangays banded together, either to form a larger settlement[54] or a geographically looser alliance group,[55] the more senior or respected among them would be recognized as a "paramount datu", variedly called a Lakan, Sultan, Rajah, or simply a more senior Datu.[57][54][62]

Early historic coastal city-states and polities

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, c. 900. The oldest known historical record found in the Philippines, discovered at Lumban, Laguna.

The earliest historical record of these polities and kingdoms is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, which indirectly refers to the Tagalog polity of Tondo (c.before 900–1589) and two to three other settlements believed to be located somewhere near Tondo, as well as a settlement near Mt. Diwata in Mindanao, and the temple complex of Medang in Java.[53] Although the precise political relationships between these polities is unclear in the text of the inscription, the artifact is usually accepted as evidence of intra- and inter-regional political linkages as early as 900 CE.[53][57][55] By the arrival of the earliest European ethnographers during the 1500s, Tondo was led by the paramount ruler called a "Lakan".[57][55] It had grown into a major trading hub, sharing a monopoly with the Rajahnate of Maynila over the trade of Ming dynasty[63] products throughout the archipelago.[57] This trade was significant enough that the Yongle Emperor appointed a Chinese governor named Ko Ch'a-lao to oversee it.[64][65]

The next historical record referring to a location in the Philippines, is Volume 186 of the official history of the Song dynasty which describes the purportedly Buddhist "country" of Ma-i (c.before 971 – after 1339). Song dynasty traders visited Ma-i annually, and their accounts described Ma-i's geography, trade products, and the trade behaviors of its rulers.[66] Chinese merchants noted that Ma-i's citizens were honest and trustworthy.[67] Because the descriptions of Mai's location in these accounts are not clear, there is some dispute about Mai's possible location, with some scholars believing it was located in Bay, Laguna,[68] and others believing it was on the island of Mindoro.[69]

The official history of the Song dynasty next refers to the Rajahnate of Butuan (c.before 1001–1756) in northeastern Mindanao which is the first polity from the Philippine archipelago recorded as having sent a tribute mission to the Chinese empire—on March 17, 1001 CE. Butuan attained prominence under the rule of Rajah Sri Bata Shaja,[59] who was from a Buddhist ruling-class governing a Hindu nation. This state became powerful due to the local goldsmith industry and it also had commercial ties and a diplomatic rivalry with the Champa civilization.

Historian Efren Isorena has asserted that Visayan raiding parties conducted raids on the port cities of southern China between A.D. 1174 and 1190 which are attributed by other historians to raiders from Formosa (today's Taiwan).[70] The Visayan raiding parties were composed of people from the Kedatuan of Dapitan.[71]

According to legend, the Kedatuan of Madja-as (c.1200–1569) was founded following a civil war in collapsing Srivijaya, wherein loyalists of the Malay datus of Srivijaya defied the invading Chola dynasty and its puppet-Rajah, called Makatunao, and set up a remnant state in the islands of the Visayas. Its founding datu, Puti, had purchased land for his new realms from the aboriginal Ati hero, Marikudo.[72] Madja-as was founded on Panay island (named after the destroyed state of Pannai, a constituent state of Srivijaya which was located in Sumatra). The people of Madja-as conducted resistance movements against the Hindu and Islamic invaders that arrived from the west.[73]

Locations of pre-colonial principalities, polities, kingdoms and sultanates in the Philippine archipelago.

The Rajahnate of Cebu[74] (c.1200–1565) was a neighbor of Madja-as in the Visayas led by Rajamuda Sri Lumay, a monarch with partial Tamil descent. Sri Lumay was sent by the Chola Maharajah to invade Madja-as, but he rebelled and formed his own independent rajahnate. This state grew wealthy by making use of the inter-island shipping within the archipelago.[75] Both the Rajahnates of Butuan and Cebu were allied to each other and they also maintained contact and had trade routes with Kutai, a Hindu country[76] in south Borneo established by Indian traders.[77]

The epic poem Nagarakretagama stated that the Java-based Hindu empire of Majapahit had colonized Saludong (Manila) at Luzon and Solot (Sulu) at the Sulu Archipelago. However, they failed to establish a foothold in the Visayas islands which was populated by Srivijayan loyalists who waged incessant guerrilla warfare against them. Eventually, Luzon regained independence from Majapahit after the Battle of Manila (1365) and then Sulu also reestablished independence and in vengeance, assaulted the Majapahit province of Poni (Brunei) before a fleet from the capital drove them out.[78] The Rajahnate of Maynila (c. 1258–1571) was established on the island of Luzon across the Pasig River from Tondo due to the naval victory of the Bruneian Rajah Ahmad over the Majapahit Rajah Avirjirkaya, who ruled a prior pre-Muslim settlement in the same location.[57] The subsequent spread of Islam in Southeast Asia eventually caused the downfall of the Majapahit empire as its provinces seceded and formed independent Sultanates upon becoming Muslim. Eventually, in the face of these Islamic conversions, the remnants of Hindu Majapahit fled to the island of Bali.[79] The Chinese also mention a polity called "Luzon." This is believed to be a reference to Maynila since Portuguese and Spanish accounts from the 1520s explicitly state that "Luçon" and "Maynila" were "one and the same",[57] although some historians argue that since none of these observers actually visited Maynila, "Luçon" may simply have referred to all the Tagalog and Kapampangan polities that rose up on the shores of Manila Bay.[80] Either way, from the early 1500s to as late as the 1560s, this seafaring people was referred to in Portuguese Malacca as Luções, and they set up many overseas communities across Southeast Asia where they participated in trading ventures and military campaigns in Burma, Malacca and Eastern Timor[81][82][83] as traders and mercenaries.[84][85][86] One prominent Luções was Regimo de Raja, who was a spice magnate and a Temenggung (Jawi: تمڠݢوڠ)[87] (Governor and Chief General) in Portuguese Malacca. He was also the head of an armada which traded and protected commerce between the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea,[88] and the medieval maritime principalities of the Philippines.[89][90]

According to historian Paul Kekai Manansala, the famed admiral Zheng He attacked Lusung but was repulsed in Manila and the conquest was limited to Pangasinan.[91] In northern Luzon, Caboloan (Pangasinan) (c.1406–1576) sent emissaries to China in 1406–1411 as a tributary-state,[92] and it also traded with Japan.[93]

The Kris (or Kalis), sacred swords used by uncolonized Filipinos, that were wielded as standard weapons.[94]

Islam then started to spread out of Mindanao in the south and went into Luzon in the north. This was accomplished because the Sultanate of Brunei, which was previously known as Poni, had seceded from Majapahit and had converted to Islam and then had invited an Arab Emir from Mecca, Sharif Ali,[98] to become Sultan and his descendant, Sultan Bolkiah set up Manila in Luzon as an Islamic colony during his reign from 1485 to 1521.[99] Thereby again subjugating rebellious Tondo by defeating Rajah Gambang in battle and thereafter installing the Muslim rajah, Rajah Salalila to the throne. Thus reestablishing the Bruneian vassal-state of the Muslim Rajahnate of Maynila as its enforcer in Luzon.[100][101][102][103] Sultan Bolkiah also married Laila Mecana, who is the daughter of Sulu Sultan Amir Ul-Ombra of newly Islamized Sulu, to expand Brunei's influence in both Luzon island and the Sulu archipelago.[104]

The Muslims then proceeded to wage wars and conduct slave-raids against the Visayans.[105] Participating in the Muslim raids, the Sultanate of Ternate, a Muslim state centered in the vicinity of Papuan-Indonesia, consequently destroyed the Animist Malayo-Polynesian Kedatuan of Dapitan in Bohol.[71] This forced the people of Dapitan to reestablish their country in northern Mindanao and displace the citizens of the Sultanate of Lanao as they conquered their territory. The Hindu Rajahnates of Butuan and Cebu also endured slave raids from, and waged wars against the Sultanate of Maguindanao[106] while their southern Hindu ally, the Rajahnate of Kutai, struggled with the Sultanate of Brunei for hegemony over Borneo island. Simultaneous with these Muslim slave-raids against the Visayans, was the rebellion of Datu Lapu-Lapu of Mactan against Rajah Humabon of Cebu.[107] There was also a simmering territorial conflict between the Polity of Tondo and the Bruneian vassal-state, the Islamic Rajahnate of Maynila, to which the ruler of Maynila, Rajah Matanda, sought military assistance against Tondo from his relatives at the Sultanate of Brunei.[108]

The rivalries between the Datus, Rajahs, Sultans, and Lakans eventually eased Spanish colonization. Furthermore, the islands were sparsely populated[109] due to consistent natural disasters[110] and inter-kingdom conflicts. Therefore, colonization was made easy and the small states of the archipelago quickly became incorporated into the Spanish Empire and were Hispanicized and Christianized.[111]

Colonial era

Journalist Alan Robles has opined, "Colonialism created the Philippines, shaped its political culture and continues to influence its mindset. The 333 years under Spain and nearly five decades under the USA decisively moulded the nation".[112] Anthropologist Prospero Covar has observed, "Our thinking, culture, and psychology became virtually westernized, when we were, in fact, Asians."[113]

Spanish rule

An old oil painting on the inside of a wooden chest, circa 1640-1650, depicting Intramuros, a walled city that was built over the burnt ruins of Bruneian controlled Maynila, center of the Spanish colony.

Spanish rule eventually contributed significantly to bringing political unity to the fragmented states of the archipelago. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed as a territory of the Mexico-based Viceroyalty of New Spain and then was administered directly from Madrid after the Mexican War of Independence. The Manila galleons, the largest wooden ships ever built, were constructed in Bicol and Cavite.[132] The Manila galleons were accompanied with a large naval escort as it traveled to and from Manila and Acapulco.[133] The galleons sailed once or twice a year, between the 16th and 19th centuries.[134] The Manila Galleons brought with them goods,[135] settlers[136] and military reinforcements destined for the Philippines, from Latin America.[137] The reverse voyage also brought Asian commercial products[138] and immigrants[139] to the western side of the Americas.[140]

Trade introduced foodstuffs such as maize, tomatoes, potatoes, chili peppers, chocolate and pineapples from Mexico and Peru. Within the Philippines, the Marquisate of Buglas was established and the rule of it was awarded to Sebastian Elcano and his crew, the survivors of the first circumnavigation of the world, as well as his descendants. New towns were also created[120] and Catholic missionaries converted most of the lowland inhabitants to Christianity.[141] They also founded schools, a university, hospitals and churches which were built along the Earthquake Baroque architectural style.[142] To defend their settlements, the Spaniards constructed and manned a network of military fortresses (called "Presidios") across the archipelago.[143] The Spanish also decreed the introduction of free public schooling in 1863.[144] Slavery was also abolished. As a result of these policies the Philippine population increased exponentially.[145][146]

During its rule, Spain quelled various indigenous revolts. There were also several external military challenges from Chinese and Japanese pirates, the Dutch, the English, the Portuguese and the Muslims of Southeast Asia. Those challengers were fought off despite the hostile forces having encircled the Philippine archipelago in a crescent formed from Japan to Indonesia. The Philippines was maintained at a considerable cost during Spanish rule. The long war against the Dutch from the West, in the 17th century, together with the intermittent conflict with the Muslims in the South and combating Japanese-Chinese Wokou piracy from the North nearly bankrupted the colonial treasury.[147] Furthermore, the state of near constant wars caused a high death and desertion rate among the Mestizo, Mulatto and Indio (Native American) soldiers sent from Mexico and Peru that were stationed in the Philippines.[148] This left only the fittest and strongest to survive and serve out their military service. The high death and desertion rates also applied to the native Filipino warriors and laborers levied by Spain, to fight in battles all across the archipelago and elsewhere or build galleons and public works. The repeated wars, lack of wages, dislocation and near starvation were so intense, almost half of the soldiers sent from Latin America and the warriors and laborers recruited locally either died or fled to the lawless countryside to live as vagabonds among the rebellious natives, escaped enslaved Indians (From India)[149] and Negrito nomads, where they race-mixed through rape or prostitution, which further blurred the racial caste system Spain tried so hard to maintain in the towns and cities.[150] These circumstances contributed to the increasing difficulty of governing the Philippines. Due to these, the Royal Fiscal of Manila wrote a letter to King Charles III of Spain, in which he advises to abandon the colony, but this was successfully opposed by the religious and missionary orders that argued that the Philippines was a launching pad for further conversions in the Far East.[151] The non-profitable Philippine colony survived on an annual subsidy paid by the Spanish Crown and often procured from taxes and profits accrued by the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico), and the 200-year-old fortifications at Manila had not been improved much since first built by the early Spanish colonizers.[152] This was one of the circumstances that made possible the brief British occupation of Manila.

In the 19th century, Philippine ports opened to world trade and shifts started occurring within Filipino society. Many Spaniards born in the Philippines (criollos)[155] and those of mixed ancestry (mestizos) became wealthy and an influx of Hispanic American immigrants opened up government positions traditionally held by Spaniards born in the Iberian Peninsula (peninsulares). Hispanic-Philippines reached its zenith when the Philippine-born Marcelo Azcárraga Palmero became Prime Minister of the Spanish Empire.[156] However, ideas of rebellion and independence began to spread through the islands. Many Latin-Americans[157] and Criollos were mostly officers in the army of Spanish Philippines. However, the onset of the Latin American wars of independence led to serious doubts of their loyalty, so they were soon replaced by Peninsular officers born in Spain. Criollo and Latino dissatisfaction against the Peninsulares resulted in the uprising of Andres Novales which was supported by local soldiers as well as former officers in the Spanish army of the Philippines who were from the now independent nations of Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica. The uprising was brutally suppressed but it foreshadowed the 1872 Cavite Mutiny that was a precursor to the Philippine Revolution.[111][158][159][160]

From mid-1942 through mid-1944, the Filipino guerrilla resistance[174][175] had been supplied and encouraged by U.S. Navy submarines and a few parachute drops, so that the guerrillas could harass the Japanese Army and take control of the rural areas, jungles and mountains—thus, the Japanese Empire only controlled 12 out of 48 provinces.[176] While remaining loyal to the United States, many Filipinos hoped and believed that liberation from the Japanese would bring them freedom and their already-promised independence.

Eventually, the largest naval battle in history, according to gross tonnage sunk, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, occurred when Allied forces started the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese Empire.[177][178] Allied troops defeated the Japanese in 1945. By the end of the war it is estimated that over a million Filipinos had died.[179][180][181]

In 1965, Macapagal lost the presidential election to Ferdinand Marcos. Early in his presidency, Marcos initiated numerous infrastructure projects but was accused of massive corruption and embezzling billions of dollars in public funds.[191] Nearing the end of his term, Marcos declared Martial Law on September 21, 1972.[192] This period of his rule was characterized by political repression, censorship, and human rights violations but the US were steadfast in their support.[193]

In Arroyo's 9-year administration, the economy experienced a phenomenal growth of 4-7% averaging at 5.33% from 2002 to 2007 with the completion of infrastructure projects like Line 2 in 2004[217] and managed to avoid the Great Recession.[218] By comparison, the Philippines has been growing an average of 3.6% from 1965 to 2001 or 3.5% (1986-2001) if we include only those years when democracy was already achievement in the Philippines on 1986. The improvement of the Philippine annual growth rate from her predecessors (since Marcos Regime to Estrada Administration) was around 1.7–1.87%. And this jumpstart from a sluggish economy for almost 5 decades that left it behind by its neighbors in the 1960s would prove to be the Philippines rise from being the sick man of Asia to become one of the "Tiger Cub Economy" for the next decade after her administration.[204] Nevertheless, it was tied with graft and political scandals like the Hello Garci scandal pertaining to the alleged manipulation of votes in the 2004 presidential elections.[219][220][221][222] On November 23, 2009, 34 journalists and several civilians were massacred in Maguindanao.[223][224]

Duterte initiated the "Build, Build, Build" program, which aims to usher the Philippines into a new "golden age" of infrastructure. It will create more jobs and business opportunities, which, in turn, would sustain the country's economic growth and accelerate poverty reduction.[244] The construction industry needs two million more workers to sustain the program.[245][246]

The Build, Build, Build program is made up of 75 projects, which includes six air transport projects, 12 rail transport projects, and four water transport projects. It also includes four major flood management projects, 11 water supply and irrigation projects, four power projects, and three other public infrastructure projects.[247] The country is expected to spend $160 billion to $180 billion up to 2022 for the public investments in infrastructure.[248]

In 2017, Duterte signed the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which provides for free tuition and exemption from other fees in public universities and colleges for Filipino students, as well as subsidies for those enrolled in private higher education institutions. He also signed 20 new laws, including the Universal Health Care Act, the creation of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, establishing a national cancer control program, and allowing subscribers to keep their mobile numbers for life.[249]

In addition to membership in the United Nations, the Philippines is also a founding and active member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), an organization designed to strengthen relations and promote economic and cultural growth among states in the Southeast Asian region.[258] It has hosted several summits and is an active contributor to the direction and policies of the bloc.[259]

Relations with other nations are generally positive. Shared democratic values ease relations with Western and European countries while similar economic concerns help in relations with other developing countries. Historical ties and cultural similarities also serve as a bridge in relations with Spain.[269][270][271] Despite issues such as domestic abuse and war affecting overseas Filipino workers,[272][273] relations with Middle Eastern countries are friendly as seen in the continuous employment of more than two million overseas Filipinos living there.[274]

With communism no longer the threat it once was, once hostile relations in the 1950s between the Philippines and China have improved greatly. Issues involving Taiwan, the Spratly Islands, and concerns of expanding Chinese influence, however, still encourage a degree of caution.[268] Recent foreign policy has been mostly about economic relations with its Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific neighbors.[254]

In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the largest separatist organization, the Moro National Liberation Front, is now engaging the government politically. Other more militant groups like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the communist New People's Army, and the Abu Sayyaf have previously kidnapped foreigners for ransom, particularly on the southern island of Mindanao.[284][285][286][287] Their presence decreased due to successful security provided by the Philippine government.[288][289] At 1.1 percent of GDP, the Philippines spent less on its military forces than the regional average. As of 2014[update] Malaysia and Thailand were estimated to spend 1.5%, China 2.1%, Vietnam 2.2% and South Korea 2.6%.[290][291]

The Philippines was an ally of the United States from the World War II with a mutual defense treaty between the two countries signed in 1951. The Philippines once supported American policies during the Cold War and participated in the Korean and Vietnam wars. However, the fallback of relationship between the two countries in favor of China and Russia resulted in the Philippines establishing deep defence ties and cooperation with the latter two, abandoning its military ties with the United States while affirming that the country will no longer participates in any US-led war.[292][293][294][295]

Administrative regions

Regions in the Philippines are administrative divisions that serve primarily to organize the provinces of the country for administrative convenience. The Philippines is divided into 17 regions (16 administrative and 1 autonomous). Most government offices are established by region instead of individual provincial offices, usually (but not always) in the city designated as the regional center. As of 2015[update], CALABARZON was the most populated region while the National Capitol Region (NCR) the most densely populated.

Due to the volcanic nature of the islands, mineral deposits are abundant. The country is estimated to have the second-largest gold deposits after South Africa and one of the largest copper deposits in the world.[316] It is also rich in nickel, chromite, and zinc. Despite this, poor management, high population density, and environmental consciousness have resulted in these mineral resources remaining largely untapped.[316]Geothermal energy is a product of volcanic activity that the Philippines has harnessed more successfully. The Philippines is the world's second-biggest geothermal producer behind the United States, with 18% of the country's electricity needs being met by geothermal power.[317]

Biodiversity

The Philippines' rainforests and its extensive coastlines make it home to a diverse range of birds, plants, animals, and sea creatures.[318] It is one of the ten most biologically megadiverse countries.[319][320][321] Around 1,100 land vertebrate species can be found in the Philippines including over 100 mammal species and 170 bird species not thought to exist elsewhere.[322] The Philippines has among the highest rates of discovery in the world with sixteen new species of mammals discovered in the last ten years. Because of this, the rate of endemism for the Philippines has risen and likely will continue to rise.[323] Native mammals include the palm civet cat, the dugong, the cloud rat and the Philippine tarsier associated with Bohol.

Philippine maritime waters encompass as much as 2,200,000 square kilometers (849,425sqmi) producing unique and diverse marine life, an important part of the Coral Triangle.[297] The total number of corals and marine fish species was estimated at 500 and 2,400 respectively.[318][322] New records[328][329] and species discoveries[330][331][332] continuously increase these numbers, underlining the uniqueness of the marine resources in the Philippines. The Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea was declared a World Heritage Site in 1993. Philippine waters also sustain the cultivation of pearls, crabs, and seaweeds.[318][333]

With an estimated 13,500 plant species in the country, 3,200 of which are unique to the islands,[322] Philippine rainforests boast an array of flora, including many rare types of orchids and rafflesia.[334][335]Deforestation, often the result of illegal logging, is an acute problem in the Philippines. Forest cover declined from 70% of the Philippines's total land area in 1900 to about 18.3% in 1999.[336] Many species are endangered and scientists say that Southeast Asia, which the Philippines is part of, faces a catastrophic extinction rate of 20% by the end of the 21st century.[337] According to Conservation International, "the country is one of the few nations that is, in its entirety, both a hotspot and a megadiversity country, placing it among the top priority hotspots for global conservation."[334]

Climate

Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Super Typhoon Yolanda, is one of the strongest typhoons that hit the Philippines.

The Philippines has a tropical maritime climate that is usually hot and humid. There are three seasons: tag-init or tag-araw, the hot dry season or summer from March to May; tag-ulan, the rainy season from June to November; and tag-lamig, the cool dry season from December to February. The southwest monsoon (from May to October) is known as the Habagat, and the dry winds of the northeast monsoon (from November to April), the Amihan.[338] Temperatures usually range from 21°C (70°F) to 32°C (90°F) although it can get cooler or hotter depending on the season. The coolest month is January; the warmest is May.[253][339]

The average yearly temperature is around 26.6°C (79.9°F).[338] In considering temperature, location in terms of latitude and longitude is not a significant factor. Whether in the extreme north, south, east, or west of the country, temperatures at sea level tend to be in the same range. Altitude usually has more of an impact. The average annual temperature of Baguio at an elevation of 1,500 meters (4,900ft) above sea level is 18.3°C (64.9°F), making it a popular destination during hot summers.[338]

Sitting astride the typhoon belt, most of the islands experience annual torrential rains and thunderstorms from July to October,[340] with around nineteen typhoons entering the Philippine area of responsibility in a typical year and eight or nine making landfall.[341][342][343] Annual rainfall measures as much as 5,000 millimeters (200in) in the mountainous east coast section but less than 1,000 millimeters (39in) in some of the sheltered valleys.[340] The wettest known tropical cyclone to impact the archipelago was the July 1911 cyclone, which dropped over 1,168 millimeters (46.0in) of rainfall within a 24-hour period in Baguio.[344]Bagyo is the local term for a tropical cyclone in the Philippines.[344]
Natural hazards often cause lots of casualties in the Philippines. However, the government has lately been trying to manage and reduce disaster risks through innovative legislation.[345][not in citation given]

A newly industrialized country, the Philippine economy has been transitioning from one based upon agriculture to an economy with more emphasis upon services and manufacturing. Of the country's total labor force of around 40.813 Million,[5] the agricultural sector employs 30% of the labor force, and accounts for 14% of GDP. The industrial sector employs around 14% of the workforce and accounts for 30% of GDP. Meanwhile, the 47% of workers involved in the services sector are responsible for 56% of GDP.[348][349]

The unemployment rateas of 14December2014[update], stands at 6.0%.[350][351] Meanwhile, due to lower charges in basic necessities, the inflation rate eases to 3.7% in November.[352] Gross international reserves as of October 2013 are $83.201billion.[353] The Debt-to-GDP ratio continues to decline to 38.1% as of March 2014[354][355] from a record high of 78% in 2004.[356] The country is a net importer[349] but it is also a creditor nation.[357]

After World War II, the Philippines was for a time regarded as the second wealthiest in East Asia, next only to Japan.[254][358][359] In the 1960s its economic performance started being overtaken. The economy stagnated under the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos as the regime spawned economic mismanagement and political volatility.[254][359] The country suffered from slow economic growth and bouts of economic recession. Only in the 1990s with a program of economic liberalization did the economy begin to recover.[254][359]

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis affected the economy, resulting in a lingering decline of the value of the peso and falls in the stock market. The extent it was affected initially was not as severe as that of some of its Asian neighbors. This was largely due to the fiscal conservatism of the government, partly as a result of decades of monitoring and fiscal supervision from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in comparison to the massive spending of its neighbors on the rapid acceleration of economic growth.[206] There have been signs of progress since. In 2004, the economy experienced 6.4% GDP growth and 7.1% in 2007, its fastest pace of growth in three decades.[360][361] Average annual GDP growth per capita for the period 1966–2007 still stands at 1.45% in comparison to an average of 5.96% for the East Asia and the Pacific region as a whole. The daily income for 45% of the population of the Philippines remains less than $2.[362][363][364]

The economy is heavily reliant upon remittances from overseas Filipinos, which surpass foreign direct investment as a source of foreign currency. Remittances peaked in 2010 at 10.4% of the national GDP, and were 8.6% in 2012 and in 2014, Philippines total worth of foreign exchange remittances was US$28 billion.[365][366] Regional development is uneven, with Luzon – Metro Manila in particular – gaining most of the new economic growth at the expense of the other regions,[367][368] although the government has taken steps to distribute economic growth by promoting investment in other areas of the country. Despite constraints, service industries such as tourism and business process outsourcing have been identified as areas with some of the best opportunities for growth for the country.[349][369]

Transportation

Transportation infrastructure in the Philippines is relatively underdeveloped. This is partly due to mountainous terrain and the scattered geography of the islands, but also the result of consistently low investment in infrastructure by successive governments. In 2013, about 3% of national GDP went towards infrastructure development—much lower than many of its neighbors.[377][378] There are 216,387 kilometers (134,457mi) of roads in the Philippines, with only 61,093 kilometers (37,961mi) of roads paved.[379]

Buses, jeepneys, taxis, and motorized tricycles are commonly available in major cities and towns. In 2007, there were about 5.53million registered motor vehicles with registrations increasing at an average annual rate of 4.55%.[380]

In the past, railways served major parts of Luzon, and railroad services were available on the islands of Cebu and Negros. Railways were also used for agricultural purposes, especially in tobacco and sugar cane production. A few transportation systems are under development: DOST-MIRDC and UP are implementing pre-feasibility studies on Automated Guideway Transit.[401][402][403]

Science and technology

The Philippines has pursued efforts to improve the field of science and technology. The Department of Science and Technology is the governing agency responsible for the development of coordination of science- and technology-related projects in the Philippines.[409] The National Scientist of the Philippines award is given to individuals who have contributed to different fields of science in the country.

Notable Filipino scientists include Maria Orosa, a food technologist famous for her formulated food products like calamansi nip, soyalac and the banana ketchup,[410] and Ramon Barba, a horticulturist known for his method to induce more flowers in mango trees.[411]

In the field of medicine, notable figures include Fe del Mundo, a pediatrician whose pioneering work in pediatrics as an active medical practice spanned 8 decades,[413] and Paulo Campos, a physician who was dubbed as "The Father of Nuclear Medicine in the Philippines" for his contributions in the field of nuclear medicine.[414]

Research organizations include the International Rice Research Institute, an international independent research and training organization established in 1960 with headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna,[415][416] focusing on the development of new rice varieties and rice crop management techniques to help farmers in the country improve their lives.[417]

The Philippines has a sophisticated cellular phone industry and a high concentration of users. Text messaging is a popular form of communication and, in 2007, the nation sent an average of one billion SMS messages per day. Over five million mobile phone users also use their phones as virtual wallets, making it a leader among developing nations in providing financial transactions over cellular networks.[420][421][422] The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company commonly known as PLDT is the leading telecommunications provider. It is also the largest company in the country.[420][423]

The National Telecommunications Commission is the agency responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over all telecommunications services throughout the country.[424] There are approximately 383 AM and 659 FM radio stations and 297 television and 873 cable television stations.[425] On March 29, 1994, the country went live on the Internet via a 64 kbit/s connection from a router serviced by PLDT to a Sprint router in California.[426] Estimates for Internet penetration in the Philippines vary widely ranging from a low of 2.5million to a high of 24million people.[427][428]Social networking and watching videos are among the most frequent Internet activities.[429] The Philippine population is the world's top internet user.[430]

Tourism

The travel and tourism sector is a major contributor to the economy, contributing 7.1% to the Philippine GDP in 2013 [431] and providing 1,226,500 jobs or 3.2 percent of total employment.[432] 2,433,428 international visitors arrived from January to June 2014 up by 2.22% in the same period in 2013. South Korea, China, and Japan accounted for 58.78% while the Americas accounted for 19.28% and Europe 10.64%.[433] The Department of Tourism has responsibility for the management and promotion of the tourism sector.

The country's rich biodiversity is one of the main tourist attractions with its beaches, mountains, rainforests, islands and diving spots among the most popular tourist destinations. As an archipelago consisting of about 7,500 islands, the Philippines has numerous beaches, caves and other rock formations. Boracay has glaring white sand beaches and was named as the best island in the world by Travel + Leisure in 2012.[434] The Banaue Rice Terraces in Ifugao, the historic town of Vigan in Ilocos Sur, the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, Magellan's Cross in Cebu and the Tubbataha Reef in Visayas are other highlights.

The Philippines is also one of the favorite retirement destinations for foreigners due to its warm climate all year round, beaches and low cost of living.[435]

Water supply and sanitation

Among the achievements of the government in the Philippines are a high access to an improved water source of 92% in 2010; the creation of financially sustainable water service providers ("Water Districts") in small and medium towns with the continuous long-term support of a national agency (the "Local Water Utilities Administration" LWUA); and the improvement of access, service quality and efficiency in Manila through two high-profile water concessions awarded in 1997.[436]

The challenges include limited access to sanitation services, high pollution of water resources, often poor drinking water quality and poor service quality, a fragmentation of executive functions at the national level among numerous agencies, and a fragmentation of service provision at the local level into many small service providers.[436]

The population of the Philippines increased from 1990 to 2008 by approximately 28 million, a 45% growth in that time frame.[439] The first official census in the Philippines was carried out in 1877 and recorded a population of 5,567,685.[440]

It is estimated that half of the population resides on the island of Luzon. The 3.21% population growth rate between 1995 and 2000 decreased to an estimated 1.95% for the 2005–2010 period, but remains a contentious issue.[441][442] The population's median age is 22.7 years with 60.9% aged from 15 to 64 years old.[5] Life expectancy at birth is 69.4 years, 73.1 years for females and 65.9 years for males.[443] Poverty incidence also significantly dropped to 21.6% in 2015 from 25.2% in 2012.[444]

Since the liberalization of United States immigration laws in 1965, the number of people in the United States having Filipino ancestry has grown substantially. In 2007 there were an estimated[445][446] 12million Filipinos living overseas.[447]

According to the official count the population of the Philippines hit 100 million at the time of midnight on July 27, 2014, making it the 12th country to reach this number.[448]

The Philippine population will continue to increase throughout 2018 and is projected to reach around 107,190,081 by December 31, 2018, based on projections made by the Commission on Population using the latest population census of 2015 (Philippine Statistics Authority).[449]

Filipinos generally belong to several Asian ethnic groups classified linguistically as part of the Austronesian or Malayo-Polynesian speaking people.[456] It is believed that thousands of years ago Austronesian-speaking Taiwanese aborigines migrated to the Philippines from Taiwan, bringing with them knowledge of agriculture and ocean-sailing, eventually displacing the earlier Negrito groups of the islands.[457]
Negritos, such as the Aeta and the Ati, are considered among the earliest inhabitants of the islands.[458] These minority aboriginal settlers (Negritos) are an Australoid group and are a left-over from the first human migration out of Africa to Australia. However, the aboriginal people of the Philippines along with Papuans, Melanesians and Australian Aboriginals also hold sizable shared Denisovan admixture in their genomes.[459]

Being at the crossroads of the West and East, the Philippines is also home to migrants from places as diverse as China, Spain, Mexico, Peru, United States, India, South Korea, and Japan.

The Chinese are mostly the descendants of immigrants from Fujian in China after 1898, numbering around 2 million, although there are an estimated 27 percent of Filipinos who have partial Chinese ancestry,[460][461][462] stemming from precolonial and colonial Chinese migrants.[463] Intermarriage between the groups is evident in the major cities and urban areas.[464]

Mexican descendants in the Philippines numbered 1.7 Million in 2010.[465] Furthermore, at least one-third of the population of Luzon, where Spaniards mixed with natives, as well as old settlements in the Visayas (founded by Mexicans)[lower-alpha 2] and Zamboanga City (colonized by Peruvians)[467] or around 13.33% of the Philippine population, have partial Hispanic ancestry (from varying points of origin and ranging from Ibero-America[468] to Spain).[469] Recent genetic studies confirm this partial European[470][471] and Hispanic-American ancestry.[472] The migrants from Peru and Mexico weren't even homogeneous since they themselves were already racially admixed Mestizos or Mulattos[150] but there were also a few Native-Americans too.[473]

According to a Y-DNA compilation by the DNA company Applied Biosystems, they calculated an estimated 1% frequency of the South Asian Y-DNA "H1a" in the Philippines. Thus translating to about 1,011,864 Filipinos having full or partial Indian descent. These Indian-Filipinos were either descended from precolonial Indian adventurers who established Hindu kingdoms in the vicinity: the Rajahnates of Cebu and Butuan as well as Kutai in Borneo,[474] they may also come from colonial era Sepoy mercenaries[475] and modern traders.[476]

The Philippines was a former American colony and during the American colonial era, there were over 800,000 Americans who were born in the Philippines.[477] As of 2015, there are now 220,000 to 600,000 American citizens currently living in the country.[478] There are also 250,000 Amerasians scattered across the cities of Angeles, Manila, Clark and Olongapo.[479]